Flying Crusaders
Flying Crusaders (not to be confused with The Flying Crusaders, an Air Police short story) is a short story which was first published in The Modern Boy Issue 364, 26th January 1935. The story was subsequently gathered and published in 1935 in the anthology Biggles in France where it spanned chapters 22 and 23 and were titled "He Shot Him to Bits!" and "Written Off". The story was republished in Biggles of 266 where it appeared as the 6th chapter, under the title War in Hot Blood. It later reappeared in the Red Fox Biggles in France and the 2009 Norman Wright edition. Both of these versions retained the chapter division and titles of the 1935 edition. In the Modern Boy sequence, this story is preceded by Biggles' Flying Wardrobe and followed by Biggles' Borrowed Plumes. Synopsis Parker from 287 Squadron is shot down and subsequently machine-gunned to death on the ground in a manner which violated the accepted laws of war and customs of air combat. Biggles is determined to hunt down the perpetrator and eliminate his entire unit. Plot (may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) Characters *Biggles *Algy Lacey *Wat Tyler *Wilks *Captain Mahoney *Captain MacLaren *Major Mullen *Major A. L. Benson *Wilson *Parker (287 Squadron) Aircraft *Sopwith Camel *S.E.5 *Bristol Fighter *Fokker Dr.I *Airco D.H.4 *Albatros D.V - D.V variant is mentioned specifically, a useful timeline fix. *R.E.8 Places Visited *Maranique *Harnes *Annoeulin *Don *Seclin Mentioned Editorial Changes Other Research Notes *Aerial victories of Biggles and friends: Biggles 2 *Other R.F.C. and R.N.A.S. Units mentioned: **287 Squadron (R.F.C.) - Wilk's squadron **301 Squadron (R.F.C.) - at Cassel, equipped with Bristol Fighters References to the past Incongruities Chronology (see also table at Timeline of the Biggles Stories) *From a chronology point of view, this story is from the second block of Modern Boy stories which went into Biggles in France. This block was published about 4 months after the first block. In contrast to the first block, the second block appears to be set later during the war. Biggles is obviously a flight commander, and a captain and Algy Lacey has joined the squadron. *For some reason, when compiling the stories for the 1935 edition of Biggles in France, the editors switched this story with the story which was published in Modern Boy before it (Biggles' Borrowed Plumes). Major Benson, who plays a part in the story here only arrives in France in the next one. This discontinuity was not corrected in Biggles of 266 nor the Red Fox edition of France. *With no other features to stipulate a particular timeframe, a convenient time to place this story would be September-October 1917Ward Powers. "What Happened to Biggles in WW1?" ''Biggles Flies Again'' Vol. 3 No. 1, June 2009. This is consistent with the appearance of the Albatros D.V. Although first introduced in May 1917, the early batches were beset with structural problems. An improved version which corrected the faults, the Albatros D.Va, was only delivered in October 1917. Publication History *''The Modern Boy'', Issue 364, 26th January 1935 *''Biggles in France'', Boy's Friend Library No. 501 7th November 1935 (as two chapters: "He Shot Him to Bits!" and "Written Off") *''Biggles of 266'' 1956 (as chapter 6 War in Hot Blood) *''Biggles in France'', Red Fox, 1993 and subsequent reprints *''Biggles in France'', Norman Wright, 2009 References External Links Category:Short stories Category:Biggles short stories Category:World War One era short stories